Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas Conrad Ryan, DOB 24th January 1897
He was one of nine children of John Jnr and Fannie (Clarris) Ryan of Juandah, and a grandson of Con and Elizabeth Clarris of Taroom. His parents opened the first hotel in Juandah in 1900.
Thomas enlisted in Miles on 1st July 1916 aged 19 years 6 months, Service # 4131. He was in good physical health but required dental treatment. A Private in the 11th Depot Btn, he embarked from Brisbane on 21st October 1916 on the HMAT Boonah and disembarked in Plymouth, England on 10th January 1917. On 25th April 1917, Thomas proceeded to the Etaples camp in France, a notoriously rigorous, often brutal training base and crucial transit point for troops about to go into action. By 1917, there were 100,000 allied troops camped there as well as facilities for the detention of prisoners, a large hospital complex treating the wounded evacuated from the Front Line and a supply depot. By the end of the war, over one million allied personnel had passed through Etaples. Thomas was taken on strength as a Private from the 10th Reinforcements to the 31st Battalion. Wounded in action to the left buttock, hip and knee and right foot on 9th May 1918, he was admitted to hospital on 13th May 1918. He was then invalided to the UK on 7th June and admitted to Stourbridge Hospital the next day. After treatment, his mother received notification that he had been removed from the ‘seriously ill’ list and his wounds slowly healed but left a lifelong disability. Thomas was deemed unfit for active and general service and repatriated to Australia on 5th March 1919. He was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory medals.

Thomas married Elma Gladys Rosalie Wilson (DOB 1900) on 9th July 1920. He died in Taroom on 7th July 1978, aged 81 years 5 months.

Lisle (Clarris)Gorham
2x great-granddaughter of Con and Elizabeth Clarris